The Portland daily press., 1887-03-24
a THRILLING ADVENTURE.
encounter with a Monster Serpent
on a Steamboat on an indian River.

- = ~e~.'''SSot OF an tndidn HiteTs
Cincinnati Commercial Gazette.
The annual statements put forth by the
Government Of India as to the number OF peo-
pie who fall victims to the poison Of insects
and reptiles, seem appalling to one who has
never visited that country and realized for
himself the Insecurity Of human life against
those ever-present foes Of humanity. / was
for several years employed in the surveys
made Of the Brahmapootra and Ganges Riy-
ers, both Of which have several mouths, and
/ had various adventures in connection with
wild animals and reptile life. There was
never week, and sometimes hardly day,
that some one Of our party was not put in
peril OF his life. In three months, having
five white men and sixty natives in our par
ty, welost one white man, had a second Grip
Piled for life, and buried forty odd Of the ma
tiyes, every one Of whom was a victim Of
reptile or insect poison. l was personally
present when as many as fifteen Of them
were snake-bitten, and not one Of them lived
three hours after being struck.
Our party was provided with a small steam
er, bargein which the natives lived, and a
feet Of three open boats. We were towed
from point to point by the steamer, but there
was sometimes week in which we did not
have steam up. We not only took the depth,
but sounded and marked channels, and took
observations on various points, such as the
wearing away Of the banks, the filling In, re-
suits OF freshets, &c. We were on shore
more or less Of the time, but danger lurked
ABOARD the boats and steamer as well as In
the Jungle.
One morning as the survey boats started
ont fQlh too uuVUpll m apoonnauv than. .ud
when they had pulled away l went back to
my state-rO0m and lay down. The craft was
light-draft hat-bott0med steamer, and
when not In use was always tied up at the
bank. She had been In her present position
four days, and was moored TO the right bank
Of the Brahmapootra, about thirty miles from
the sea. There was no human habltatiOn
near us, and the dense jungle extended for
miles above and below and right TO the bank
where we rested. My state-room was on the
starboard side. and therefore next TO the jun
gle, and, Of course. all doors and windows
were open. The engineer Of the boat had
taken canoe and anchored three hundred
feet away TO fish, while all others belonging
70 the boat were of on the survey. | should
have excepted the cook, who was, OF course,
a native. He was a 1.-THE young fellow, whom
we called Jack, aud he had been reared In
Calcutta, and could speak English. When 1
went TO bed he was doing up his breakfast
dishes and making ready for dinner, and /
heard him singing native song In soft key
as he moved about / did not fan asleep,
but became dr0wsy, and but for an alarm
would soon pass into slumber. The window
Of my state-room hung on hinges. was at the
.ss.=-lxaTd end Of the room, and was wide open.
My bunk wascsE the left-hand side, looking
forward, and the ffgss.s hand wall was fitted
with hooks for my clothes. f~sasg with my
head to the stern Of the boat, and tnnrcstQre
faced the window, while the open door Or,
the state-room was at my right hand. and
swung back againt my bunk.
have put in all the details in order that
the reader may fully comprehend what hap
Dened. My eyes were half shut, and the fies
were buzzing around me in a dTeary way,
when felt, rather than heard, something
crawl aboard the boat, and the next instant
shadow darted past the open window. My
eyes few open, my heart gave jump, and
was really startled. Before | could make a
satisfactory explanation to myself the shad-
Ow returned, and now beheld the wicked
head Of large serpent at the window. The
reptile was looking In, and his head swayed
from right to left as he peered about to salts
fy his curiosity.
The distance from my head to the window
was not over nine feet, and Of course / had a
plain view Of him. / realized at once from
the size Of the head that the serpent was a
monster. and was certain that ne would at
tack me. Had l sprung up he would either
have fled or struck me. Being too startled
by his sudden advent to plan just what TO do.
did nothing, and thereby saved my life. |
had no covering over me the snake must
have seen me, but after moment | became
satisfied that he would not meddle with me
II kept quiet. made no effort 10 suppress
my breathing, but otherwise l was as quiet
as a corpse.
The serpent was a couple Of minutes In de
Gliding to come in, and as soon as bis head
touched the floor he began crawling through
the open door into the hallway. tAs he slowly
passed along estimated his length at thirty
feet was lying partly on my right side
and partly on my back, and could see every
inch of him. The end Of his tail had scarce
ly disappeared over the threshold when l
sprang up and closed the door. Five seconds
later | closed the window, and was then per-
fectly safe. The first thing i wanted to do
was to raise an alarm and give the cook a
chance TO escape. His kitchen was on the
deck below, but doubling II he could hear my
shouts. made ready TO fire one Of my pls-
tolls. Then came the fear that the cook, fear
ing some accident TO me, would come rushing
up and fall a ready victim. The serpent
might pass through the hall to the port
guards Of the boat, but the chances were that
he would turn into the sm0king-room. Az
ter little reflection l decided that 1t was
better TO let the man take his chances. He
was vigilant fellow, always on the watch
for scorpions, tarantulas, and the like, and
the instinct of danger might serve him better
than any effort Of mine.
A long half hour slipped away without my
hearing or seeing anything further OF the
serpent. Then began to abuse myself for
coward in leaving the cook to take his
chances, and / got out nv shotgun, dropped
a dozen buckshot in on top Of the wads, and
opened the door with the determination OF
hunting out and staying the snake. As had
my hand on the catch there came a sort OF
scutfiing and shutting In the hall, and the
noise slowly passed throngh the door, out
upon the port guards. / believed Il was the
snake going back TO the jungle, and with my
gun at the cook opened the door ana passed
out A part Of the serpent was yet on the
rail, and into this fired both barrels as fast
as | could pull the trigger. That portion OF
the snake struck by the heavy charges was
about ten feet above the tall, and at that
mans ankle. He was cut almost In two, as
afterward came to know.
The moment fired lodged back into the
state-room. and IL was well did, Mortally
wounded as he was, the serpent returned
aboard In such violent manner as to rock
the steamer, and, In his struggles In the mar
row gangway and in the hall, he carried the
door off Its hinges, and knocked part OF the
railing into kindling wood. He was thrash
ing about for at least ten minutes, and when
dared 10 venture out again his head was on
the bank and the rest Of his body In the gang
way, while the blood was spattered about as
If a butchery had occurred. was ready TO
fire again, but the snake was quite dead
The report Of the first discharge had alarm
ed the engineer, and he came padding up just
as / discovered that the serpent could do no
further injury Then we at once began
search for the cook, and II was not until we
had explored every part Of the boat twice ov-
er that we thought to look on the bank.
There we found his body, limp and lifeless,
and showing half dozen bites. From GER
tain signs and clews In the kitchen, where
some wild fowl were boiling on the stove, we
concluded that the sav0ry od0r drew the SER
pent aboard and down stairs. He probably
came upon the cook so silently that no alarm
was given. and as there was only a stool 0y-
erturned there could not have been much OF
struggle. How the serpent got the body of
the boat cannot say, but perhaps he drag
ged 1t and that accounted for the shuhilng
noise heard in the ball At noon, when the
boats came in and the men learned what had
happened, some Of the natives fred the jun
gle, and the result was aconfiagration, which
ran for miles and lasted two weeks.